Last year, officials announced that state income-tax refunds would be delayed until March 1 or after. The delay was to give the agency time to verify wage documents with the Internal Revenue Service to prevent taxpayer refunds from being stolen.

This year, SCDOR will begin accepting individual income tax returns on Jan. 23. Any refunds will be processed within two to four weeks, officials said.

Meanwhile, certain federal refunds will be delayed until on or after Feb. 15.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that refunds for people who quality for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit will be delayed in an effort to combat tax return fraud.